The Civil Aviation Department of the Nagorno-*ara*akh Republic has announced that flights from Yerevan to Stepanakerts newly renovated airport will begin May 9  a date that also marks the re-taking of Shushi (1994) by Armenian forces.A one-way ticket for the 35-minute flight is expected to cost 15,000 drams ($41) and will be operated by Artsakhavia Airlines on three 50-passenger SRJ-200 aircraft. Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Administration of Azerbaijan says it has a right to shoot down any aircraft flying into the airport as it would violate the no flight zone designated by the Azeris, who see the self-declared NKR as occupied territory.

And elsewhere we read this;"Azerbaijan Threatens To Shoot Down *ara*akh Planes" Yeah!! Sure!! Helicopters have been flying between Yerevan and Stepanakert a hundred times a day for at least 20 years.

AZERI THREATS TO SHOOT DOWN PLANES FRAUGHT WITH UNPREDICTABLE REPERCUSSIONS FOR BAKU

PanARMENIAN.Net
March 16, 2011 - 17:01 AMT 13:01 GMT

Azeri threats to shoot down planes bound for Stepanakert will not
frighten Karabakh, according to the head of the central information
department at the office of the Artsakh President.

As David Babayan stated in a conversation with PanARMENIAN.Net
reporter, "the threats are a proof that medieval psychology is
prevalent in Azerbaijan. Those who issue them do not simply lack in
self-possession, but openly support Nazi values."

"The international community must adequately respond to criminal
statements of the kind," he stressed.

"Azerbaijan seeks to scare Artsakh people into refusing to use airport
services. We are determined to open the airport, no matter whom it
vexes in Azerbaijan. Any slight attempt Azerbaijan might take will
be fraught with unpredictable repercussions for Azerbaijan itself,"
Babayan stressed.

Earlier, Baku threatened to shoot down civilian planes flying to
Karabakh after reopening of Stepanakert airport. As Baku's state
aviation agency said it has informed the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) that the region's airspace was closed and any
flights would be unauthorized. "According to the law on aviation, it is
even possible to physically destroy airplanes which are heading there,"
Arif Mammadov, director of Azerbaijan's Civil Aviation Administration,
said in comments to local media. "We asked the ICAO to notify the
opposing side in order to prevent incidents," he said.

Stepanakert airport will be ready for operation in May 2011. "The
airport's terminal is ready. Currently, the tower is being
constructed," the head of the department of civil aviation at the
Artsakh government, Dmitry Atbashyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

"The airport will be well equipped. Young specialists are being
trained to take up duties by the opening date," he said.

Muammar aliev V ilham QaddafiThey should be locked up in the same cell and rant all they want. Why is that one is labeled a terrorist and the other as a "saint". Thye both buy their wmd's with petroleum money.---

Anticipating the move, Gaddafi had threatened to attack any air or maritime traffic in the Mediterranean, including civilian targets.He took to the airwaves to condemn any UN action as an act of ‘flagrant colonisation’. ‘This is craziness, madness, arrogance,’ ranted the dictator.

May 06, 2011 | 17:12 STEPANAKERT. – Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan arrived in Stepanakert within the framework of celebrations dedicated to the Victory Holiday, the Day of the Artsakh Republic Defense Army and the liberation of Shushi.President of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Bako Sahakyan and other officials met the Armenian President at the airport.The Presidents visited the airport complex and got familiar with works carried out there, NKR presidential press service informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

TEST OF WILL?: NKR ANNOUNCES OPENING OF AIRPORT AS ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH
By John Hughes

ArmeniaNow
Karabakh | 27.09.12 | 13:11

Officials in Nagorno-Karabakh are now saying that the self-declared
republic's airport - which has already been a flashpoint of regional
tension and controversy - will open "next week".

The announcement has dominated Armenian media since Wednesday, when
the head of civil aviation in the internationally-unrecognized NKR
Government stated that flights will begin, and that the airport just
outside capital Stepanakert will serve 100 passengers per hour with
flights on "Artsakh Air".

The airport was first predicted to open nearly two years ago, drawing
immediate anger from Azerbaijan officials, who said any flights in
"occupied" airspace would be viewed as provocation, and subject to
being shot down. For more than a year, opening of the airport has
been delayed "for technical reasons".

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan - a native Karabakhi - responded
to threats in March 2011, by saying that he would be the first
passenger to fly out of the airport, underscoring his confidence in
safe operation from the troubled territory which has been under cease
fire since 1994.

As recently as July of this year, Baku restated its right to shoot
down aircraft over Karabakh, which covers some 7,000 square kilometers
of land viewed by Azeris as still belonging to them.

When the OSCE Minsk Group stated in July that opening the airport
would be seen as a means of strengthening the potential for peace
between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the director of Azerbaijan's State
Civil Aviation Administration Arif Mammadov reiterated the earlier
statements on downing planes.

"This is the right of the Azerbaijani side, according to the law on
aviation. Whether this right will be implemented or not, it is for
the government to decide," Mammadov said.

The apparent decision to now begin operating commercial flights out
of Karabakh comes as tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan have
piqued since last month. Hungary extradited an Azeri army officer,
Ramil Safarov, who had brutally killed an Armenian officer in Budapest.

Azeri President Ilham Aliyev immediately pardoned the killer, promoted
him from lieutenant to major, paid him a salary equivalent to the 8
years he had been in jail in Hungary, and gave him an apartment.

The action drew international condemnation against Azerbaijan, and
was widely viewed by political analysts as proof that the warring
nations - Armenia is Christian, Azerbaijan is Muslim - are too far
apart in any meaningful way for reconciliation to be expected.

Since the "Safarov Affair", a peace settlement seems more distant than
at any time in the protracted conflict. It is likely that international
attention and concern will focus on the tiny airport should there,
indeed, be planes flying "soon" as announced by head of the NKR Civil
Aviation Dmitry Adbashyan.

DAVID BABAYAN: HINDRANCE OF STEPANAKERT AIRPORT FLIGHTS BY AZERBAIJAN MEANS RESUMPTION OF WAR

ARMENPRESS
27 September, 2012
YEREVAN

YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 27, ARMENPRESS: Hindrance of the works of the
Airport of Stepanakert or shooting down of civil airplanes will
have undesirable consequences. "If Azerbaijan tries in any way to
hinder the works of the Stepanakert Airport or shoot down our civil
airplanes, it will mean war", - Armenpress was reported by the Head
of the Central Information Department of the President's Staff of
Nagorno Karabakh Republic David Babayan.

Azerbaijan threatens time to time, which is, according to Babayan, a
part of fascist policy conducted by the country. "For the international
community such approach is unacceptable. It is an object of civic
character and will function in accordance to the international rights
and norms, as people have the right to travel freely", - said the
Head of the Central Information Department.

According to David Babayan, the Airport is equipped with up-to-date
equipment. "Even in the conditions of no flight weather we can do
so that the airplane lands in any airport of Armenia", - stated the
Head of the Central Information Department of the President's Staff
of Nagorno Karabakh Republic.

The Airport of Stepanakert will be put into operation in the
coming days. This information was reported to Armenpress by the
Press Secretary of the General Department of Civil Aviation at the
Government of the Republic of Armenia Nelly Cherchinyan.

The Airport of Stepanakert was built in 1974 and received flights
mainly from Yerevan and Baku. From 1992 the Airport was idle. In 2008
the construction of the new main building of the Airport was launched,
which is analogous to an eagle with opened wings. Within this period
of time the runway as well has been widened and the peaks of some
hills adjacent to the runway have been evened, so that the reception
of the modern large aircrafts has become possible.

>From the very beginning of the reconstruction and re-equipment works of
the Airport of Stepanakert the Azerbaijani authorities have threatened
that in case of the Airport's functioning, they would shoot down the
civil airplanes. These announcements made by Azerbaijanis have been
condemned as well by the international community.

Azerbaijan has called on the international community to condemn
Armenia's alleged attempts to open an airport in Khankendi, in the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

"The international community must express its position on the issue
and also focus on Armenia's illegal actions," Azerbaijani Foreign
Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev told reporters on Oct. 2. His
remarks came after Armenian media reported that the country plans to
open an airport in Khankendi.

"Armenia's actions, that is, opening the airport in Khankendi,
contradict international conventions, in particular the Chicago
Convention on Civil Aviation," Azerbaijan's private Trend news agency
quoted Abdullayev as saying on its website.

Any actions in Azerbaijan's occupied territories are illegal and
have a negative impact on the negotiation process to settle the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Abdullayev said. "The international
community must not ignore the fact [that this action is] directed
against Azerbaijan's sovereignty," he said. "The OSCE, U.N. and other
international organizations must also voice their opinion and force
Armenia to liberate Azerbaijan's territory in order for regional
peace to be restored," he added.

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has promised to be the first
passenger to fly from Khankendi, according to media reports.

Baku will not permit "illegal operation" of Artsakh airport - this
is what Azerbaijani Turan news agency concluded from the statement
of Azerbaijani Defense Minister Eldar Sabiroglu.

Panorama.am has interviewed military expert Gagik Karapetyan on
the topic.

Asked what could be viewed as "illegal operation," the expert said,
"Artsakh airport has received an official license, which testifies
to two things: first, the airport meets international standards and
second, it has the right to begin to receive and send planes. From
this point of view, referring to international norms is absolutely
unintelligible."

"Azerbaijan's useless and unintelligible steps will only work against
Azerbaijan itself. No aggression against Artsakh will go unpunished,"
Karapetyan noted, adding that Baku's threats contain "elements of
blackmail."

The opening of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic capital city’s Stepanakert Airport is still causing concern for Azerbaijan. “If Armenians conduct flights to Nagorno-Karabakh, Turkey may close its air space to Armenia,” a secret diplomatic source told APA News Agency of Azerbaijan. The source also noted that official Baku and Ankara have some arrangement regarding this matter, which was frequently discussed recently by the aviation departments of Azerbaijan and Turkey. The Armenian General Department of Civil Aviation did not comment on this information. Also, Turkish MP and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) member Sinan Ogan told very same APA News Agency that Turkey could close its air space to Armenia, but at the same time he raised a question: In that case, through which route will the flights to Nakhichevan be conducted? As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the Stepanakert Airport is already launched and the flights are expected to start soon. And in response to this development, Azerbaijan threatened to down Armenian airplanes.

According to the Azerbaijani press reports, that country’s foreign ministry says it will strengthen efforts to stop what it calls “illegal visits to the occupied territories”.This past Saturday, Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs Elman Abdullayev told journalists that instructions to this effect had been relayed to Azerbaijani diplomatic missions overseas.Abdullayev says Baku had voiced its displeasure to the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry over the recent visit of Lithuanian musicians to Nagorno-Karabakh

The Azerbaijani Trend news site reports that Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu publicly opposed the opening of the airport in Stepanaket, Artsakh’s capital, at today’s meeting in Baku of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Economic Cooperation Organization."The intention to open the airport in Khankendi is a negative step. Primary goal should be a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict," Davutoglu said.He noted that Turkey has condemned this action and stated that such a step is unacceptable."This move could harm the peace process over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. We are close to Azerbaijan in this issue, and we will support it," the minister noted.